By Maria Victoria M. Lucasan, RND, MBA

I had PCOS but I was not aware of it until I had difficulty getting pregnant. Menstruation would come on time. No abdominal cramps, no acne. I was asymptomatic. In my entire career, however, I was exposed to an environment of free meals that were fat-laden, with high food portions and minimal intake of vitamins and minerals. What is PCOS? PCOS is an imbalance of female sex hormones. Ovaries contain a lifetime supply of eggs, which are immature and stored in tiny fluid structure called follicles. The pituitary gland (PG) secretes the follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and the luteinizing hormone (LH) every month into the blood stream and when the hormones reach the ovaries, several eggs start to mature, expanding the follicle size and releasing the female sex hormone (estrogen). Once it reaches a certain level, the PG releases LH to the ovaries, causing the most mature follicle to open and release its egg in a process called ovulation. The egg travels through the fallopian tube, embeds itself into the walls of the uterus, and waits for fertilization. The remaining follicles and eggs are dissolved. If the egg is not fertilized, it sloughs off as menstruation. In PCOS, the PG releases high levels of LH into the bloodstream, disrupting the menstruation cycle. Follicles do not mature and ovulation does not occur, which can lead to infertility. Some of the immature follicles do not dissolve and remain as fluid-filled sacs or cysts. Blood may have high levels of insulin produced by the pancreas. Moreover, high levels of LH can cause excess production of the male hormone (testosterone), which can prevent ovulation.
PCOS also raises the risk of many other diseases, such as diabetes (because of high insulin levels), heart disease, high blood pressure, cholesterol abnormalities, and endometrial cancer. PCOS can be managed in different ways, but lifestyle changes help reduce the risks. For dietary treatment for the general population, recommendations vary from low-calorie diets with fat modifications to the Mediterranean diet (MD), the ketogenic diet (KD), and the reduction in the dietary glycemic index (GI) and total calorie reduction, which can induce weight loss. Physical exercises, coupled with a good diet plan, can be very helpful. There are lean and obese women with PCOS, however, so lifestyle changes must be customized to the needs of the woman. To summarize, make food your medicine. Do not abuse any dietary prescription, such as the ketogenic diet to engage in non-healthy food choices. Lifestyle changes will always prove to be beneficial at any stage of life we are in. *The author is a licensed nutritionist-dietitian. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Foods and Nutrition and her Master in Business Administration (MBA), major in Hotel Restaurant Management (HRM), from St. Paul University. She has been an academician under the School of Hotel, Restaurant, and Institution Management (SHRIM) of De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (DLS-CSB) for 15 years on a part-time-basis while having a full-scale career in the food service industry as a manager/consultant.*